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The Pain of Poor Intelligence
Description A raid goes wrong for a lance when intelligence miss-informs them of the strength of the defending army. Story June 17, 3134 Alphard Cobal City Mason watched from his Shadow Cat II’s powered down cockpit as the enemy’s ‘Mechs marched through the small city. Two Ullers pillaged and burned the place, ironically repeating what their namesake’s followers did in ancient times. He looked through the foliage covering the camouflaged Shadow Cat II and at his lance mates similarly powered down Pack Hunters. He sent a message to James and Kelly: “We go on three. James, take the one on the right. Kelly, you take the left.” Mason waited until he saw a faint nod from the cockpits of both Pack Hunter’s before he followed with a series of messages. “One,” “Two,” “Three.” A bolt of artificial lightning from the ER PPCs mounted on the Pack Hunters, struck each Uller. Kelly struck her target dead on, burning a hole through the armor and straight into the ‘Mech’s fusion reactor, causing the machine to topple, then exploded with the intensity of the sun. Buildings around the downed ‘Mech crumbled from the force of the reactor’s containment failure. James, however, wasn’t so lucky. James only grazed his target, and the Uller returned fire. He was just inside its maximum accuracy range, and paid for it. The little ‘Mech’s Large laser sliced into the Pack Hunter’s chest, a ton of super heated Ferro-Fibrous armor dripped and splotched onto the ground. “BREAK COM SILENCE! ALL UNITS MOVE INTO THE CITY! COMPLETE SET OBJECTIVES!” Mason barked into his mic. His radar showed a total of ‘Mechs come online as they powered their various machines to life. James triggered his jumpjets and leapt to engage his Uller. Mason powered his ‘Mech and triggered his jumpjets as well, super heated plasma spewing out behind him. Once in the city, he began his search for the hangar where the enemy forces were held. “Striker lance assemble.” Behind him, Kelly, a Madcat MKII, and a Firebee landed and lumbered in pursuit. “We need to strike hard and fast. Remember, stay focused and-” Mason fell silent as a pair of Daishi lumbered around a corner. That’s more firepower than our lance. Which was true, in the first few instances of the fight, the Madcat MKII had grazed a building coming off of his burn, shearing the right arm and missile pod off of the body, halving the lethality. Intel was off, this isn’t some opfor force, this is the firepower of a battalion. The Daishi twins unleashed themselves onto his lance, barely clearing the apartment complex corner. The lead Daishi stabbed out with its four Large lasers, all connecting with the Firebee. It didn’t stand a chance. Red beams burned through tons of armor and into the critical wiring and “muscles” of the light ‘Mech. It then rotated to its Autocannons, the explosive rounds impacted and blew the machine in two. The pilot ejected too late and flew into a multistory building. Meanwhile, the second Daishi let loose a salvo of LRM-10s at the muscle of the group, the Madcat. The pilot timed his quad of Medium lasers to hit just as the salvo of missiles struck. Armor and the melted innards of the ‘Mech rained onto the pavement, hissing as they fell. Mason checked his rear camera and saw Kelly rocket away from the danger, only to be blindsided by a PPC of an unknown assailant. She normally would’ve survived the blast, but her ‘Mech was powered by an XL Fusion Engine. Twice the size of a standard engine, that meant there was less armor between it and the hell outside. Her engine overheated and shutdown. Lasers stabbed at the helpless ‘Mech, decimating the armor and no doubt adding to the temperature inside the cockpit. He released a salvo of SRM-6s at each Daishi and released the gauss rifle at the closest enemy. The round collided with the head and right shoulder, crumpling half of the “head” inwards and faulting the CASE. Mason paused, only momentarily because there was still one Daishi left and by now it had all of its weapons recharged. Then Mason remembered something very important. Kelly. He checked the rear monitor and found the pilot’s hatch open. Come on Kelly show me a sign that you’re alive. A figure waved at him from inside the ‘Mech and a wave of relief flooded him. Safe. He thought. But, his attention was turned back to his own problems as his ‘Mech rocked forward under the hammering of what had to be an Alpha strike from the Daishi. The nose of the Shadow Cat II pitched and Mason fell backwards to the pavement. Mason’s head collided with the dash of his cockpit and darkness tried to swallow him. He shook his head to clear it and climbed his ‘Mech to its feet. Halfway there, the Daishi unleashed hell upon Mason. Ultra AC rounds skipped off the ground and detonated on his Shadow Cat II. Cracks spiderwebbed across his canopy, and then it blew inwards. Ferro-glass travelled straight through his cooling vest, biting into his flesh. Mason raised his gauss rifle and squeezed the trigger, following it up with two salvos of missiles, and finished with his pair of medium lasers. The temperature in the cockpit skyrocketed, heat levels climbing into the red band. The AC rounds destroyed his heat sinks. The warnings that sounded only added to his growing headache. He tried to get his ‘Mech moving, but automatic shutdown procedures started every time. Why? “Engine containment leak, damage critical,” The computer’s neutral female voice warned. Mason checked his ‘Mech’s armor skeleton display and found no damage. Switching to his rear view, he found the reason. A pole had somehow punched through his thin rear armor and into his XL Fusion Engine. Apparently when he had fallen, he landed on a light pole and that was now immobilizing his sixty ton battle machine. The enemy Daishi stalked up the street and stopped ten feet from the overheated ‘Mech. There was an audible click as the pilot switched to external speakers. “You are a skilled pilot. I, Frederick Bo, take you as a bondsman.” The pilot said. “Even though I am not clan, you still have no say in this matter. If you resist,” Fredrick pointed every weapon that the Daishi had at Mason, “you will die.” Mason slumped against his harness. There, was really one choice. Despite the heat warnings, he powered back up and released everything he had. The targeting system was fried, so the gauss rifle went wide and detonated against another building, raining glass, ferrocrete, and the contents of the building onto the street. The missiles arced into the air and disappeared, the laser carved into Frederick’s left leg, leaving a black scar, but they overheated his ‘Mech and it powered down again. Frederick laughed, his mic picking up every decibel. “That was the wrong choice. Your stubbornness is good, but futile. I am very sorry; you would have made a very good bondsman.” He raised his Ultra ACs and squeezed the trigger; one round came out of the barrel, but it detonated inside the cockpit and the smoking carcass of Mason’s machine fell to the ground. Instead of a second party, I now have weapon that will turn the tide of war. Author's Notes This is my first fanfiction that i have had the nerve to let anyone else read. If you find an editing problem feel free to contact me, I will change it. Sorry for the big paragrapgh guys. I wrote it in word and it didn't transfer correctly, too lazy to try and revise it. Vynstindis 21:29, 15 January 2010 (UTC)